


And Straight On 'Til Morning

by everyperfectsummer



Series: Coldflash week [4]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Fairies, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 08:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10590216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everyperfectsummer/pseuds/everyperfectsummer
Summary: Fairies! Soulmates! Blink-and-you'll-miss-it-world-building! And, of course, coldflash!





	

Debts matter to Barry, always have, in a way that Dad and the Wests don’t understand, but Mom had. He still remembers Mom crouching in front of his bed, using his fingers and toes to count off the ways debts could be incurred, all told the lilting sing-song parents use with little kids. “This little piggy said thank you, and this little piggy asked for aid, this little piggy a bargain, a bargain a bargain made…”

So even after Barry starts living with the Wests, he never says thank you, never asks for help, never seeks out his cousins to make bargains, and never tells anybody his full name. It gets him labeled as rude, but he's bright enough and kind enough in other ways to have him cut a little slack.

 

He can feel the debts he’s accumulated in a way humans can’t, feel the little tugs of obligation on his soul, and, if he concentrates, can work out who each belongs to. He can also feel the pull of those who know his true name - more than he’d like, always more, but no one really uses it, all preferring “Barry” to “Bartholomew,” with the notable exception of one person.

 

Leonard Snart.

 

He’s in the woods with a man who’s setting himself up as his nemesis, when the man uses his full name. “So, the million dollar question,” and here’s where the story could be very different, here’s where in most universes Leonard Snart missed out by just a few syllables, and died at the Oculus, but here’s where, in this world, he instead said, “What to do with me now, Bartholomew Henry Allen?”

 

Someone who had his full name, an enemy, someone who not just knew his name but had _won_ it - there was only one real option.

 

Well, technically two. Kill him, or deepen the connection.

 

Barry’s never been one for killing, even of his enemies, and so he opts for the second. “Let’s make a bargain,” he says.

 

And that’s it, for a while.

 

Then the man betrays him at Ferris Air, and that should be enough to erase any hold the man has over him, except that then he _saves his life,_ in almost the same instant, his lies about owing money convincing no one, let alone Barry.

 

So there’s an enemy who’s an ally who’s someone Barry is beginning to have a bit of a crush on who knows Barry’s true name, which is less concerning that the fact that the Reverse Flash and Zoom have also had it, and is even less concerning one he goes off to travel through time. Barry stops thinking about him as an active threat, and only ever considers him when he’s going over the debts he owes, or is idling day dreaming about the near-fae cleverness in Len’s clear eyes.

 

But then the Legends come back, to help against the dominators, and Len doesn’t come back with them, and they tell him that it’s because Len died a hero. “No,” he corrects Ray, feeling the life debt he owes Len, _still owes, which means that Len’s still alive to collect it_ , and then, realizing he can’t prove that without outing himself, says, “a Legend.”

 

Len’s still alive, still out there, somewhere, and Barry owes him a life debt; if Barry brings him back, they’ll be square, nothing connecting them anymore. And for all that he feels a small pang of regret at that last, Len deserves to be safe and home. His team deserves him back, Mick, Lisa, they all deserve him back.

 

And so Barry sets out to rescue Leonard Snart.

 

Or at least, that was his intention. But just as his team forgets that he’s far from the only one messing with time, he himself forgets that same. And so as he runs himself through the time stream and scours the remains of the Oculus top to bottom, Len has already been brought back - not by a hero, but by Barry’s first enemy. Another person who holds Barry’s true name, and who would doubtless abuse it if he had any idea what it meant to have it.

 

The Legends come back, and tell stories of Eobard, and a spear, and a Len left by the docks with no memories, a Len who doesn’t know Barry’s name - and it’s true, there’s no thread of obligation between them, not anymore, it’s been erased, because this Len never learned Barry’s name and never saved Barry’s life. But just as this Len has the potential to join the Legion of Doom, and subjugate the world, this Len has the potential to join the Legends, and save it. All he needs is a push in the right direction.

 

So, knowing that he is trying to doom the man he loves, knowing that he is also trying to save him, Barry travels back to the docks, meets Len, and tells him everything - about team Flash, about the Legends, about everything that Len could already have done. And he tells him one more thing, too.

 

“My name is Bartholomew Henry Allen,” he tells him, and feels the effect, feels the connection spring to life at a name given with no obligation behind it, “and I give you my name freely, because you have the potential to be a good man, and I trust you to use my name for nothing but good. Call my name, and I will come to your aid.”

 

Len stares at him, a little shellshocked from the informational overload, and clearly unsure whether or not to believe him. Nevertheless, he still manages to smirk. “I’d be happy to come for you anytime, Scarlet.”

  
Barry laughs, caught off guard, and, overcome with emotion, envelopes Len in a hug. “It’s nice to have you back,” he says, before speeding away. He’s not too concerned to be going. He can still feel the soulmate connection in the back of his mind, the link from a name freely given, a debt incurred at no cost, and smiles. Len will, sooner or later, face the Oculus again. But this time, Barry will be there to face it with him.


End file.
